NIE costs

Thankyou, so I can take my friends daughter with me as she is fluent spanish and she can translate for us. Rather than paying a ripoff person. I am learning spanish now but now way am I ready for dealing with important legal stuff yet hopefully one day I can. 

If you have time then you can obtain your NIEs while still in the UK but would have to attend an appointment in either Edinburgh or London.

This is the page for applying if you are nearer Edinburgh

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/EDIMBURGO/en/Consulado/Pages/Applying-for-N.I.E-and-Certificate-of-non-residence.aspx

This is the page is you are closer to London

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/LONDRES/en/Consulado/Pages/NIE.aspx

It's quite easy if you do decide to go to the UK consulate - I went to the London one after booking the appointments online as per the links above. One of the benefits is that they have a cashiers desk there and that's where you make your payment. Might be easier for you? I speak no Spanish but Jim's guides were very helpful in completing the forms. Numbers are emailed through to you about 3-4 weeks later from Madrid. 

Only thing to remember is that you are not supposed to apply for NIE's in London if you plan to seek residency - so say its for a house purchase or bank account.

Thanks I don't think I'm going to have time to go to edinburgh as we move in 4 weeks. And with the festive period next week, just not going to be possible. But thankyou for your advice again 

Hi, we did it ourselves in the embassy in London.   The process was fairly simple but we did have to queue a bit.  When we came put, the queue was enormous so advice you to get there early.  Make sure you take all the necessary documents and fill in the necessary form.  It isn't difficult to do in the UK but may be harder in Spain.  Good luck!

On the subject of NIE's. I obtained one at the Spanish Consulate in London, when it arrived it was an A4 sized piece of paper with an official stamp on it. In view of the fact the original has to be shown here and there, and even carried around with  you?, I cannot see a peice of paper lasting very long, some people have said I should have recieved a credit card style card?

A4 paper is quite correct. Some people don't even receive that, but just an attachment to an email.

If it bothers you, just take some copies and store them safely. If the official stamp is in blue, then make them colour copies.

In fourteen years here, I've never had a photocopy refused.

Ray - the push-out bit of card is surely the blue residency certificate - or have I missed something?

OK, Ray, I'm partly colour-blind, and I can't differentiate between pastel colours, but I still think you're referring to the residency certificate. How is it described?